Iron Maiden singer, Bruce Dickinson has announced dates for his first-ever UK spoken word tour.
The show will see Bruce taking a humorous and often satirical look at the world from his own very personal perspective, as told first-hand in his inimitable anarchic style.
Tickets go on general sale on Thursday but you can get yours right now, 24 hours early, at the HERE, via Ent24.
Paul Bruce Dickinson, born 7 August 1958, the frontman of Iron Maiden since 1981, singer and songwriter. He is known for his work as the lead singer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1981, and is renowned for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage presence.
Dickinson's first musical experience was dancing in his grandparents' front room to Chubby Checker's "The Twist", when he still lived with them in Worksop. The first record Dickinson recalls owning was The Beatles single "She Loves You", which he managed to persuade his grandfather to buy him, which made him more interested in music. He tried playing an acoustic guitar belonging to his father, but it blistered his fingers. By the time he moved to Sheffield, Dickinson's parents had been earning a good living from buying property, refurbishing it and then selling it for a profit. As a result, much of Dickinson's childhood was spent living on a building site, until his parents bought a boarding house and a bankrupt garage where his father began selling second-hand cars. The income from their business success gave them the opportunity to give Dickinson, then 13 years old, a boarding school education and they chose Oundle, a public-school in Northamptonshire. Dickinson was unopposed to moving away from home because he had not built "any real attachment" to his parents, having been raised by his grandparents in Worksop until he was six.
Dickinson initially wanted to play the drums, later obtaining a pair of bongo drums from the music room for practice. Here member splaying "Let It Be" with his friend Mike Jordan, during which Dickinson discovered his singing voice while encouraging Jordan to sing the high-notes. Shortly afterwards, Dickinson was expelled from Oundle for participating in a prank in which he urinated in the headmaster's dinner. Returning home to Sheffield in 1976, Dickinson enrolled at King Edward VII School, at which he joined his first band. He had overheard two other pupils talking about their musical group and that they needed a singer and so volunteered immediately. They rehearsed in the garage of the drummer's father, and the band were impressed by Dickinson's singing, encouraging him to buy his first microphone. Their first gig took place at the Broadfield Tavern in Sheffield. Originally called "Paradox", the band adapted their name on Dickinson's suggestion to "Styx", unaware of the American act with the identical name. They made local newspaper headlines when a steel worker was awoken by their performance and tried to smash the band's drum kit. Soon afterwards the group split up.
After leaving school with A-levels in English, History, and Economics, Dickinson confessed, "I didn't really know what I wanted to do." The first thing he did was join the Territorial Army for six months. Although Bruce enjoyed his time in the TA, Dickinson realised that it was not a career choice, and so Bruce Dickson applied for a place to read history at Queen Mary College, London. His parents wished for him in the army, but he told them that Bruce wanted to get a degree first, which acted as his "cover story" and immediately began playing in bands. At university, Dickinson got involved in the Entertainments Committee: "one day you'd be a roadie for The Jam, the next you'd be putting up the Stonehenge backdrop for Hawk wind or whatever." In 1977, Dickinson met Paul "Noddy" White, a multi-instrumentalist who owned a PA and other equipment, with whom Dickinson, along with drummer Steve Jones, would form a band together called Speed. According to Dickinson, the band was called Speed because of the way in which they played, rather than a reference to drug-taking. In Speed, Dickinson began writing his own material after White taught him how to play three chords on the guitar.
On 19 July 2011, Dickinson was properly presented with an honorary music doctorate from his alma mater, Queen Mary University of London, in honour of his contribution to the music industry. In 2015, Dickinson underwent seven weeks of chemotherapy and radiation therapy for a cancerous tumour found at the back of his tongue. Dickinson's medical team expected him to make a full recovery as the tumour was discovered in the early stages. On 15 May, Dickinson was given the all-clear by his specialists.
In 2019, Dickinson was made an honorary citizen of Sarajevo and received the city's prestigious Sixth April Award for his efforts in performing under siege in 1994. According to the city's mayor, it was his arrival in Sarajevo that "was one of those moments that made us realize we will survive, that the city of Sarajevo will survive, that Bosnia and Herzegovina will survive". He is also credited as a producer on the critically acclaimed 2016 documentary Scream for Me Sarajevo, which chronicles this performance and his return to Sarajevo.
In 2019, Dickinson was also presented with an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy by the University of Helsinki.
On 6 January 2020, Dickinson was made an Honorary Group Captain of 601 (County of London) Squadron RAF.
During a 1986/1987 Iron Maiden tour, and in the wake of a divorce, Dickinson started writing his first book. Inspired by the novels of Tom Sharpe, in addition to Biggles and Penthouse, he created The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace, which Kerrang! Describe as "a satirical swipe at fetishism among the upper classes", and whose title character is a "semi-transvestite" British land owner.
Following its successful completion, Dickinson approached Sidgwick & Jackson, who, according to Bruce Dickinson, agreed to publish the book before reading it based on Iron Maiden's album sales alone. Released in 1990, the novel sold more than 40,000 copies almost immediately. Due to the high demand, Sidgwick & Jackson asked him to produce a sequel, which became 1992's The Missionary Position, a satire of televangelism. No further additions to the series have been published, although Dickinson did write the first 60 pages to a prequel, set during "Lord Jiffy's school days". Which he "just thought was rubbish and ripped it all up. I didn't think it was funny."
Bruce has turned his hand to scriptwriting, co-authoring Chemical Wedding with director Julian Doyle. The film, in which Dickinson played a few small cameo roles and composed the soundtrack, was released in 2008 and starred Simon Callow.
On 15 October 2015, HarperCollins and Dey Street announced they would publish Dickinson's memoirs. "What Does This Button Do? "was released on 19 October 2017.
